Videogame makers get no home-field advantage
Summary
- Electronic Arts’ ‘Battlefield’ delay just the latest as game publishers still struggle with remote work challenges
Staying home to play videogames is a fantasy for many. Making those games at home has turned out to be more of a nightmare.
Electronic Arts said late Wednesday that it has delayed the release of its highly anticipated “Battlefield 2042" game by a month, to Nov. 19. The news actually came as a relief to investors who had been hearing rumors about an even bigger delay. EA shares were up 1% in morning trading Thursday following a drop of nearly 6% on Wednesday.
In its statement, EA blamed the lingering effects of the Covid-19 pandemic. “Given the scale and scope of the game, we had hoped our teams would be back in our studios together as we move towards launch," the statement read. A four-week delay doesn’t indicate major problems with the game; Doug Creutz of Cowen speculates the move is more for “bug squashing and final polishing." EA also maintained its net bookings projection for the fiscal year ending in March—suggesting presales of the game have been strong enough that the company doesn’t see the shift resulting in a financial hit.
But the move does reflect a harsh reality of game development in a world where many tech workers remain hesitant to return to the office. Major games now have budgets and production teams the size of Hollywood blockbusters; the last “Battlefield" game in 2018 listed more than 3,000 developers in its credits.
Managing such productions remotely is a major logistical challenge, especially in the crunchtime near game launch. And EA is hardly alone. Take-Two Interactive said last week that the “expanded and enhanced" version of its “Grand Theft Auto V" blockbuster has been pushed back to March from its planned launch on Nov. 11. Gaming publication IGN has tallied 40 total delays of games so far this year.
Investors understandably find such delays frustrating—especially when they result in a significant shift of sales to later periods. But not getting major games right can be costly as well. Warsaw-listed CD Projekt has lost more than half its market value since the December launch of its “Cyberpunk 2077" game that was so riddled with technical problems that the company had to offer refunds. For game makers, logging a few more Zoom hours is a comparatively small price to pay to get things right.
This story has been published from a wire agency feed without modifications to the text
